NASA: Get Set to View Rare Comet from Earth for the First Time

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Sky-watchers rejoice! According to NASA, a rare comet that scientists have discovered will be visible from earth. One does not need to have fancy equipment as common people can have a look at this heavenly body using nothing more than a good pair of binoculars. The comet will be visible only this week before it heads back to the other end of the solar system following an orbit lasting thousands of years.

The rare comet can be seen from the northern hemisphere during the ongoing first week of 2017. The comet which has been christened “Comet C/2016 U1 NEOWISE” will be visible in the southeastern sky shortly before dawn. According to the report, “It is moving farther south each day and it will reach its closest point to the Sun, inside the orbit of Mercury, on January 14, before heading back out to the outer reaches of the solar system.”

Telescope silhouette

Paul Chodas, manager of NASA’s Centre for Near-Earth Object (NEO) Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the US, also mentioned that the comet “has a good chance of becoming visible through a good pair of binoculars, although we can’t be sure because a comet’s brightness is notoriously unpredictable.”